Thomas Thwaites is a prolific UK-based designer interested in technology and science, but also the complications it may bring us as humans.. He once tried to make an electric toaster from scratch. But his latest project, however, takes different approach…
The dazzling success of The Toaster Project, including TV appearances and an international book tour, leaves Thomas Thwaites in a slump. His friends increasingly behave like adults, while Thwaites still lives at home, “stuck in a big, dark hole.” Luckily, a research grant offers the perfect out: a chance to take a holiday from the complications of being human—by transforming himself into a goat. What ensues is a hilarious and surreal journey through engineering, design, and psychology, as Thwaites interviews neuroscientists, animal behaviorists, prosthetists, goat sanctuary workers, and goatherds.
Photograph: Tim Bowditch
From this, he builds a goat exoskeleton—artificial legs, helmet, chest protector, raincoat from his mum, and a prosthetic goat stomach to digest grass (with help from a pressure cooker and campfire)—before setting off across the Alps on four legs with a herd of his fellow creatures. Will he make it? Do Thwaites and his readers discover what it truly means to be human?
Thwaites’ revelations are now available in the book GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human, published by Princeton Architectural Press.
Thomas Thwaites studied biology and economics at the University College London, and completed his masters in design at the Royal College of Art. He is a designer (“of a more speculative sort”) in London, where he ponders technology, science, and futures research.